El Toro TV

El Toro TV (formerly Intereconomía Televisión) is a Spanish television channel owned by Farnesio Ventures, S.L. and associated with Grupo Intereconomía, whose founder Julio Ariza remains a prominent on-air presence. Founded in 2005 after acquiring the broadcast licence of Expansión TV, the channel initially focused on economic and financial news before broadening into general right-wing political commentary programming. The channel self-identifies as right-wing,^[1] while multiple independent Spanish news organisations have characterised its editorial line as closely aligned with the far-right party Vox.^[2][3]

After accumulating severe financial losses from 2013 onwards, Grupo Intereconomía formally declared insolvency in March 2015. Following bankruptcy proceedings that concluded in 2019, Intereconomía Televisión was formally acquired by Farnesio Ventures, S.L., a company owned by José Luis Hernández De Arce, and renamed El Toro TV on 14 March 2019.^[4] Courts subsequently found Ariza, as the group's sole administrator, judicially liable for the bankruptcy proceedings, ordering him to pay a combined total exceeding €15 million across two separate rulings in 2023.^[5][6]

Having lost its national TDT broadcast licence in 2014 following a Supreme Court ruling, El Toro TV currently operates through limited regional TDT frequencies in the Community of Madrid and Sagunto (Valencia), as well as through internet streaming and selected paid cable platforms.^[7]

The channel originated in May 2005 when Grupo Intereconomía, led by businessman and former politician Julio Ariza, acquired the broadcast assets of Expansión TV from Grupo Recoletos following that channel's closure. The acquisition was part of Ariza's ambition to build a right-wing media group that would complement other Intereconomía properties, including Radio Intereconomía.^[3]

The channel launched in July 2005 under the name Intereconomía Televisión, initially broadcasting on the same TDT frequency that had been used by Expansión TV, operated via Veo Televisión. In June 2007, a contract reassignment to Veo Televisión in favour of Sony TV en Veo ended the channel's national coverage. Intereconomía regained national reach in March 2008 after Intereconomía Corporación acquired a 25% stake in the Sociedad Gestora de Televisión Net TV, replacing Net TV on that multiplex.^[8]

In September 2007, pay platform Canal+ (then known as Digital+) announced it would not renew Intereconomía's carriage contract. Intereconomía contested the decision in court, initially obtaining a ruling in its favour from the Madrid Mercantile Court No. 4 characterising the non-renewal as an abuse of dominant position. However, the Comisión Nacional de la Competencia ultimately sided with Sogecable, and the channel ceased broadcasting on the satellite platform in September 2008.^[3]

On 11 January 2010, Grupo Intereconomía launched a spin-off channel, Intereconomía Business, to house economic and financial programming, transforming Intereconomía Televisión into a fully general-interest channel. The rebranded channel broadened its content into news, politics, entertainment, sport, health, and travel programming.^[1]

Programming highlights from this period included the political debate programme El gato al agua, the sports show Punto Pelota, and a variety of prime-time formats. In June 2010, the channel achieved a national audience share of 1.2%, described by Intereconomía as a record for a new channel.^[9]

In July 2010, the Spanish Ministry of Industry fined Intereconomía €100,000 for an advertising spot the ministry ruled discriminated against gay people by distinguishing between "normal" people and gay people, in contravention of Spanish advertising law. The Audiencia Nacional subsequently annulled the fine on appeal.^[10]

In January 2009, the channel broadcast a covert video claiming to show El Intermedio presenter El Gran Wyoming berating an intern. Days later, La Sexta revealed the footage was a staged sting designed to expose what it characterised as lax journalistic standards at Intereconomía. The incident attracted widespread media coverage and criticism from the Asociación de la Prensa de Madrid.^[11]

From early 2013, Grupo Intereconomía suffered a severe financial deterioration. Key on-air talent departed, including El gato al agua presenter Antonio Jiménez in January 2013^[12] and sports presenter Josep Pedrerol in December 2013,^[13] while the company accumulated unpaid salaries and tax debts. On 4 February 2013, Grupo Intereconomía filed a pre-insolvency protection notice (preconcurso de acreedores).^[14]

On 13 February 2014, after Vocento's subsidiary Sociedad Gestora de Televisión Net TV cut the channel's signal following unpaid debts, Intereconomía Televisión ceased national TDT broadcast. A loop message was broadcast in place of programming.^[15] From 17 February 2014, the channel resumed broadcasting via its regional TDT licences in Madrid, the Balearic Islands, and Sagunto (Valencia), and through paid cable platforms.^[16]

On 6 May 2014, the broader TDT frequency on which Intereconomía had previously broadcast nationally was closed following a Supreme Court ruling that annulled nine TDT channel concessions granted without the mandatory public tender process required by Spain's General Audiovisual Communication Law.^[17]

On 20 March 2015, Grupo Intereconomía formally filed for insolvency (concurso de acreedores).^[5] Following a judicial auction, Intereconomía Televisión was acquired in December 2018 by Farnesio Ventures, S.L., a company owned by José Luis Hernández De Arce, a former chief executive of the now-defunct resort developer Polaris World.^[18][19] Radio Intereconomía was acquired separately by Silicon Radio, S.L. The La Gaceta website was purchased by Disenso, a foundation linked to Vox, which relaunched it under a new name.^[3]

On 14 March 2019, Intereconomía Televisión was officially renamed El Toro TV.^[4][20]

Under its new ownership and name, El Toro TV has continued broadcasting with a political commentary format broadly consistent with its predecessor. Julio Ariza, though no longer the formal owner, has remained one of the channel's most prominent on-air contributors, appearing regularly in the channel's flagship discussion programmes.^[2]

In October 2020, Vox launched an in-house programme, La España Viva, broadcast in the Sunday prime-time slot on El Toro TV. The programme was used to transmit Vox's political messaging directly, featuring party leaders including Santiago Abascal and Iván Espinosa de los Monteros.^[21]

Julio Ariza, the founder of Grupo Intereconomía, served as sole administrator of Intereconomía Televisión S.L. throughout its existence. He previously served as a regional deputy (diputado autonómico) in the Parliament of Catalonia for the People's Party in the 1990s, departing following the 1996 governing pact between José María Aznar and Jordi Pujol.^[3]

In the April 2019 general election, Ariza appeared as the final candidate on Vox's congressional list for Barcelona—a symbolic position, as he was not expected to win a seat.^[22]

In November 2023, the Juzgado de lo Mercantil No. 11 of Madrid issued two separate rulings declaring the bankruptcy of Intereconomía Televisión S.L. a concurso culpable (culpable insolvency), meaning the court found the insolvency was caused by imprudent or negligent management. The first ruling, dated 16 October 2023, found that Ariza had delayed declaring insolvency by approximately two years after the company's financial situation became critical in mid-2013, thereby aggravating the deficit by approximately €4.5 million; it ordered him to cover that deficit (€4,492,011.31) and imposed a two-year ban on administering third-party assets.^[5][23] A second ruling, issued days later in relation to Intereconomía Corporación S.A., ordered Ariza to cover an additional €11,160,260.45 in concursal deficit, bringing the combined judicial liability from the bankruptcy proceedings to over €15.6 million.^[6][24]

Both rulings noted that Ariza had been declared in rebeldía (non-appearance) during proceedings.^[25] According to reporting by eldiario.es, as of 2023 seven corporate entities associated with the Intereconomía group appeared on Spain's official list of large tax debtors, owing a combined €22.8 million to the tax authority.^[5]

Grupo Intereconomía's published ideario (editorial charter) defines the group as a defender of "Western values" and "traditional values of Spanish society", identifying as economically liberal and socially conservative on issues including abortion, traditional family structures, Christian roots of civilisation, and Spanish national unity.^[26] The channel's self-description uses the term "right-wing" (derechas).^[1]

Multiple independent Spanish media organisations have characterised the editorial orientation of Intereconomía and its successor El Toro TV as aligned with the far-right. An investigation by El Español in May 2020 described El Toro TV as the primary television vehicle for Vox's messaging, noting the close personal and professional ties between Ariza and Vox leader Santiago Abascal.^[2] El Salto Diario's 2021 reconstruction of the Intereconomía corporate structure documented the channel's editorial proximity to Vox and the migration of multiple Intereconomía journalists and executives into Vox's political and press operations following the bankruptcy.^[3]

Characterisations of Intereconomía as "far-right" or ultraderecha appeared from commentators across the political spectrum. Francisco Marhuenda, director of the conservative newspaper La Razón, publicly referred to Intereconomía as a "rotten far-right group" (grupo infecto de ultraderecha).^[27] Then-deputy prime minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba described the channel as "extreme right" in a 2011 parliamentary session.^[28][29] El País characterised Intereconomía as part of a wave of far-right voices that had taken hold of digital terrestrial television by 2010.^[30]

The channel itself has rejected the label of "extremist", maintaining that its editorial line reflects conservative and right-wing, but not extremist, values.^[26]

The relationship between Intereconomía / El Toro TV and Vox has been described by multiple sources as deeply interwoven. According to El Salto Diario's 2021 investigation, Ariza had supported Abascal financially and editorially from the early years of Vox's founding and is credited by allies with having provided the media visibility that enabled Vox's subsequent electoral growth.^[3] Following Intereconomía's bankruptcy, Vox's Fundación Disenso acquired the La Gaceta website. Juan José Aizcorbe, a former Intereconomía executive who appeared as number two on Vox's Barcelona list in the 2019 general election alongside Ariza, subsequently served as Vox's national managing director before resigning from that post.^[2]

In 2020, Vox launched La España Viva, a weekly programme broadcast in El Toro TV's Sunday prime-time slot, featuring Vox leaders and designed, according to the channel, to transmit the party's political messaging directly.^[21] Confidencial Digital reported in November 2022 that Vox organised at least one investigative programme broadcast on El Toro TV, coordinating the production through party officials including a Vox communications deputy.^[31]

Financial ties between the Ariza family's business interests and Vox's leadership circle were reported in January 2025. El Confidencial reported, based on accounting documents it stated were confirmed by Vox sources, that Lidia Bedman, the spouse of Vox leader Santiago Abascal, invoiced approximately €63,600 per year to Editorial Ivat S.L., a publishing company founded by Gabriel Ariza, son of Julio Ariza.^[32] Bedman publicly denied ever having invoiced Grupo Intereconomía.^[33] The same reporting identified Gabriel Ariza as simultaneously directing Tizona Comunicación S.L., a political consultancy that received payments from Vox for electoral strategy services, and as holding a business relationship with Vox's Fundación Disenso through another entity, Lepanto Estrategy S.L., for the publication of La Gaceta de la Iberosfera.^[32]

In June 2010, during a broadcast of El gato al agua, political commentator Eduardo García Serrano directed a series of misogynistic insults at Marina Geli, the Catalan regional health minister, in the context of a debate over a Catalan sexual education campaign. The presenter, Antonio Jiménez, did not intervene. The incident reached the Spanish Congress of Deputies, where the Minister for Equality, Bibiana Aído, appeared before a parliamentary committee, and the Catalan health department filed a criminal complaint for defamation.^[34] García Serrano subsequently apologised on the channel. In January 2014, a Madrid criminal court convicted the channel and García Serrano of injurias graves con publicidad (serious defamation with publicity), ordering them to jointly pay €18,000 in compensation to Geli.^[35]

In 2012, FC Barcelona banned accredited journalists from the sports programme Punto Pelota from accessing club facilities, citing a breach of journalistic ethics standards in relation to an interview technique used by the programme. The club demanded a public apology before lifting the ban. The dispute received widespread media coverage before the ban was eventually lifted.^[36]

In March 2011, in the weeks before the May 2011 municipal and regional elections (elecciones municipales y autonómicas), the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero carried out a national retuning of TDT channels. Critics, including Intereconomía management, alleged that the retuning was timed to disadvantage channels critical of the government by forcing elderly viewers to resync their receivers. Intereconomía reported a 20% drop in audience share on the night of the retuning.^[37]

El Toro TV currently operates through free-to-air TDT licences in the Community of Madrid (covering Madrid capital, Móstoles, Fuenlabrada, and Pozuelo de Alarcón) and in Sagunto (Valencia). Through the Canal 8 Murcia brand, the channel also holds licences in Murcia. Content is additionally available on paid cable and IPTV platforms including Movistar+, Vodafone TV, Orange TV, Telecable, Euskaltel, and R, as well as via internet streaming at eltorotv.com.^[7]

Programming under the El Toro TV brand has included the political discussion shows Mañanas en Libertad and Dando Caña, the economic commentary programme Pulso Económico, and other political and general-interest formats.^[3]

• Grupo Intereconomía
• Julio Ariza
• Vox
• La Gaceta (Spain)
• Radio Intereconomía
• El gato al agua
• Expansión TV

• El Toro TV official website